Africa's first female president - World news - Africa | NBC News Advertise Two U.S. Navy warships were visible offshore for the first time since the war ended in 2003, a rare show of support also meant to protect two high-profile American guests, first lady Laura Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Security was tight, with armed U.N. peacekeepers surveying the scene with binoculars from atop surrounding buildings. The U.N. redeployed 500 peacekeepers previously stationed outside the capital to strategic points in Monrovia and the international airport. Taylor legacy Sirleaf will serve a six-year term as head of Africa's oldest republic, founded by freed American slaves in 1847. The country has known little but war, however, since a rebel group led by Charles Taylor plunged the country into chaos, invading from neighboring Ivory Coast in 1989. Taylor became president in 1997 but stepped down and was exiled to Nigeria as part of the 2003 peace deal brokered as rebels pressed on the capital.

He is now wanted on war crimes charges by a U.N.-backed war crimes court in Sierra Leone for his role in backing a brutal rebel group during that country's 1991-2002 civil war. On a flight to Monrovia early Monday, Rice told reporters Taylor "is through raping and pillaging this country, and the Liberian people are trying to look forward." Nigeria has refused to hand Taylor over to the court and Sirleaf has said only that she would consult with regional leaders regarding Taylor's future. Rice said she's confident Sirleaf will work to hand Taylor over to the Sierra Leone court. Rich in diamonds, iron ore and timber, Liberia was relatively prosperous and peaceful until a 1980 coup saw illiterate Master Sgt. Samuel Doe seize power and order Cabinet ministers tied to poles in their underwear and executed. Harvard-educated Sirleaf was finance minister at the time, but was spared, she told The Associated Press in a recent interview, "by the grace of God." Twice imprisoned in the 1980s by Doe's junta, Sirleaf fled into exile.

When Taylor launched a rebel invasion in 1989, Sirleaf briefly supported him — a move that still draws criticism today. The war saw children as young as 10 take up arms. Fighting uprooted half the country's three million people and killed 200,000. Challenges ahead for ‘Iron Lady’ A truce paved the way for presidential elections in 1997 that Sirleaf lost to Taylor. The brazen bid earned her the nickname "Iron Lady." After another rebel war forced Taylor from power in 2003, Sirleaf ran for president again, this time winning a heated November run-off buoyed by a resume that included senior jobs at Citibank, the U.N. and the World Bank. Her soccer star rival, George Weah, was backed by ex-rebel leaders and many ex-combatants. Sirleaf inherits a nation in tatters. The capital has no running water or electricity, and unemployment is an astounding 80 percent. Reflecting how slowly economic wheels are turning, the annual budget is a mere $80 million. Annual donor aid is three-and-a-half times that.

Sirleaf says her top priorities include stamping out corruption, getting electricity in the capital and assuring a future for 100,000 ex-combatants who laid down arms last year, many of whom are prowling the streets, unemployed. © 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf | World Bank Live Ellen Johnson Sirleaf President of Liberia Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is the 24th President of the Republic of Liberia and the first elected female Head of State in Africa. She is serving her second term as President after winning the 2011 presidential election. President Sirleaf has, throughout her career, demonstrated passionate commitment to hard work, integrity and good governance, advocating for the rights of women and the importance of education to provide a better future for her country and its people. She has revived national hope by strengthening the institutions of national security and good governance, leading the revitalization of the national economy and infrastructure, and restoring Liberia’s international reputation and credibility.

After decades of fighting for freedom, justice and equality in Liberia, in 2011 President Sirleaf shared the prestigious Nobel Prize for Peace with two other women – fellow Liberian Leymah Gbowee, and Tawakkul Karman of Yemen. They were recognized, by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work. Among her other distinguished honors are: France’s highest award and public distinction, the Grand Croix of the Légion d’Honneur (2012), and the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development (2012). In 2007 she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor bestowed by an American President. More recently, on September 28, 2013, before a crowd of more than 60,000 fans attending the 2013 Global Citizen Festival at Central Park’s Great Lawn, President Ellen Sirleaf of Liberia received this year’s Global Citizen Movement Award for championing the cause of gender equality.

Two days later, on September 30, in Costa Rica, the Liberian leader became the first sitting President and the first African to have her bust installed in the Garden of Nations of the United Nations-mandated University of Peace, joining such global icons as Mahatma Gandhi, Eleanor Roosevelt and others. The “Put Ma Ellen There” project was an initiative by 15 young Liberians, representing the country’s 15 political sub-divisions, who believed that their President deserved to be in the Garden because of her significant contributions to peace and development in her country and the world, and worked towards its realization. In October, President Sirleaf received the Entrepreneur for the World 2013 Award, in the Policy-Maker Category, presented by the World Entrepreneurship Forum, which recognized her for leading the way not only for the African continent, but every policy-maker willing to transform his/her community. The Forum’s founders added that, in the process of rebuilding post-conflict Liberia, President Sirleaf has strengthened national security and good governance, conducted the revitalization of the economy and, in so doing, restored Liberia’s international reputation.

Over the past year, the Liberian President co-chaired a United Nations High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda. The Panel, which presented its report on May 30, 2013, was tasked with crafting a roadmap for global recovery and sustainable development. Pleased with her leadership role on the African continent, the Liberian President was chosen, in May, by the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the African Union to chair a Committee of Heads of State and Government on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, and to work towards an African common position to be embedded in the final post-2015 document. At the 2013 African Union Summit, President Sirleaf was elected Chairperson of the African Peer Review Mechanism, whose mandate is to ensure that the policies and practices of its 31 member countries conform to agreed values in the areas of democracy and political governance, economic governance, corporate governance and socio-economic development. President Sirleaf chairs the Mano River Union – comprised of Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone – where she leads the effort for political stability, economic cooperation and regional integration.

The Liberian leader is Goodwill Ambassador for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in Africa; and is a Champion of many causes, including against Sexual Violence in Conflict. She is the recent past Chair of the African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA). Born Ellen Eugenia Johnson in Monrovia on October 29, 1938, she is the granddaughter of a traditional chief of renown in western Liberia and a market woman from the southeast. She grew up in Liberia and attended high school at the College of West Africa in Monrovia, subsequently studying at Madison (Wisconsin) Business College, the University of Colorado and Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government where she obtained a Master’s Degree in Public Administration in 1971. Her entry into politics came in 1972 when she delivered her now famous commencement address to her high school alma mater in which she sharply criticized the government, showing her determination to speak truth unto power. This was the start of a distinguished professional and political career that has spanned four decades. Mrs.

Johnson Sirleaf joined the then Treasury Department in 1965, rising to the position of Minister of Finance in 1979 where she introduced measures to curb the mismanagement of government finances. After the 1980 military coup d’état, she served as President of the Liberian Bank for Development and Investment (LBDI) but fled her country and the increasingly suppressive military government that same year. She traveled to Kenya and served as Vice President of Citicorp’s Africa Regional Office in Nairobi, and later moved to Washington, D.C., to assume the position of Senior Loan Officer at the World Bank, and then as Vice President for Equator Bank. In 1992 she joined the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as Assistant Administrator and Director of its Regional Bureau of Africa with the rank of Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations. With her country still very much at heart, Johnson Sirleaf resigned her UN post in 1997 to return home and contest the presidential election, and was ranked second in votes to opponent Charles Taylor. She went into self-imposed exile, this time to Côte d'Ivoire where she kept a close eye on Liberian politics.

During that time she established, in Abidjan, the Kormah Development and Investment Corporation, a venture capital vehicle for African entrepreneurs; and Measuagoon, a Liberian community development NGO. In 2003, when Charles Taylor was exiled to Nigeria and the National Transitional Government of Liberia (NTGL) was formed, Johnson Sirleaf was selected to serve as Chairperson of the Governance Reform Commission, where she led the country’s anti-corruption reform by changing the reporting mechanism of the General Auditing Commission from the Executive to the Legislature, thereby strengthening and reinforcing its independence. She resigned this position to successfully contest the 2005 presidential election, resulting in her historic inauguration, on January 16, 2006, as Liberia’s first female President. During her tenure, President Johnson Sirleaf has built strong relations with regional partners and the international community, attracting investment of over US$16 billion in Liberia’s mining, agriculture, forestry and hydrocarbon sectors to provide jobs for her people. Her leadership led to Liberia’s US$4.6 billion external debt forgiveness in June 2010, and the lifting of UN trade sanctions to allow Liberia access to international markets.

Under her government, the National Budget grew from a mere US$80 million in 2006 to over U$672 million in 2012, with an annual GDP growth increase of 8.7 percent. She has also attracted over $5 million of private resources to rebuild schools, clinics and markets, and scholarships for capacity building. Before becoming President, Mrs. Johnson Sirleaf served on many advisory boards. They include: the International Crisis Group; Women Waging Peace; the Synergos Institute; and the Open Society Institute for West Africa (OSIWA), which she chaired. She was a founding member of the International Institute for Women in Political Leadership; served, in 1999, on the Organization of African Unity (OAU) committee to investigate the Rwanda genocide, and chaired its commission for the Inter-Congolese Dialogue. She collaborated with Mrs. Elisabeth Rehm of Finland for a UNIFEM investigative report, “Women, War, Peace,” on the effect of conflict on women and women’s roles in peace building. Mrs. Johnson Sirleaf is the recipient of other prized awards.

So far, in 2013 alone, she has received the National Order of Benin; the National Medical Association of the United States Lifetime Humanitarian Award for Healthcare; the Year of Pan Africanism and African Renaissance African Union Award; the Gender Is My Agenda Campaign African Women Pioneer Award; and was inducted as an Honorary Member of the LINKS, Inc., an organization of professional African-American women. Other awards over the years have included: the Martin Luther King, Jr. Peace Medal and Alpha Award of Honor (2012); the African Gender Award (2011); Friend of the Media Award (2010); FUECH Grand Cross Award (2009); FAO’s CERES Medal (2008); International Women’s Leadership Award (2008); International Crisis Group Fred Cuny Award for the Prevention of Deadly Crisis (2008); James and Eunice K. Matthews Bridge Building Award (2008); American Academy of Achievement Golden Plate Award (2008); National Civil Rights Museum Annual Freedom Award (2007); National Democratic Institute Harriman Award (2007); Bishop T.

Walker Humanitarian Award (2007); Gold Medal of the President of the Italian Republic (2006); Africa Prize for Leadership for the Sustainable End of Hunger (2006); National Reconciliation Award (2006); International Woman of the Year (2006); and the International Republican Institute Freedom Award (2006). Mrs. Sirleaf has been awarded honorary doctorates by over 17 institutions, among them: Tilburg University in the Netherlands; the Nigerian Defence Academy; the University of Massachusetts Medical School; Harvard University; Rutgers University; Yale University; Georgetown University; the University of Abeokuta, Nigeria; the University of Minnesota; Furman University of South Carolina; Brown University; Indiana University; Dartmouth College; Concordia University; Langston University; Spelman College; and Marquette University.

Among other accolades, the Liberian leader has been ranked among the top 100 most powerful women in the world (Forbes 2012); the first most powerful woman in Africa (Forbes Africa 2011); among the 10 best leaders in the world (Newsweek 2010); among top 10 female leaders (TIME 2010); called “the best President the country has ever had (The Economist 2010); and as one of the six “Women of the Year” (Glamour 2010). President Johnson Sirleaf has written widely on financial, development and human rights issues, and in 2008 she published her critically acclaimed memoir, This Child Will Be Great. She is the proud mother of four sons and grandmother of eleven. The Executive Mansion Biographical Brief of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Photo Credit: Emansion Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is the 24th President of Liberia and Africa’s first democratically elected female Head of State; is serving her second term as President after winning the 2011 presidential election.

She’s one of the three who won the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate in 2011. Madam Sirleaf has throughout her career demonstrated passionate commitment to hard work, integrity, good governance and has been advocating for the rights of women and the importance of education to provide a better future for her country and its people. Born Ellen Eugenia Johnson in Monrovia on October 29, 1938, she is the granddaughter of a renowned Traditional Chief of western Liberia and a daughter of market woman from the southeast. She grew up in Liberia and attended high school at the College of West Africa in Monrovia. Subsequently, she studied at Madison Business College, University of Colorado and Harvard University Kennedy School of Government where she obtained a Master’s Degree in Public Administration in 1971. Her entry into politics began in 1972 when she delivered her famous commencement address at graduation convocation of her alma mater (College of West Africa) in which she sharply criticized the government and demonstrated her determination to speak the truth no matter the consequences. This was the start of a distinguished professional and political career spanning nearly four decades.

In 1975 she joined the then Treasury Department in Liberia, rising to the position of Minister of Finance in 1979 where she introduced measures to curb the mismanagement of government finances. After the 1980 military coup d’état, Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf served as President of the Liberian Bank for Development and Investment (LBDI) but fled Liberia as a result of the increasingly suppressive military dictates of the government that same year. She traveled to Kenya and served as Vice President of CITICORP’s Africa Regional Office in Nairobi, and later moved to Washington, D.C. to assume the position of Senior Loan Officer at the World Bank, and as Vice President for Equator Bank. In 1992 she joined the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as Assistant Administrator and Director of its Regional Bureau of Africa with the rank of Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations. However, with her country still very much at heart, Mrs. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf resigned in 1997 to return home and contest the general and presidential elections and was ranked second in votes to opponent Charles Taylor.

She went into self-imposed exile in Côte d'Ivoire where she kept a close eye on Liberian politics. During that time she established, in Abidjan, Kormah Development and Investment Corporation, a venture capital vehicle for African entrepreneurs, and Mesuagoon, a Liberian community development NGO. In 2003 when the National Transitional Government of Liberia (NTGL) was formed, Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was selected to serve as Chairperson of the Governance Reform Commission where she led the country’s anti-corruption reform by changing the reporting mechanism of the General Auditing Commission from the Executive to the Legislature, thereby strengthening and reinforcing its independence. She resigned this position to successfully contest the 2005 general and presidential elections; resulting in her historic inauguration on January 16, 2006, as President of the Republic of Liberia. After decades of fighting for freedom, justice and equality in Liberia, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has spent more than nine years rebuilding post-conflict Liberia.

She has revived national hope by strengthening the institutions of national security and good governance, leading the revitalization of the national economy and infrastructure, including the construction of more than 800 miles of roads, and restoring Liberia’s international reputation and credibility. President Johnson Sirleaf has built strong relations with regional partners and the international community, attracting investment of over $16 billion in Liberia’s mining, agriculture and forestry sectors, and off-shore oil exploration to provide jobs for her people. Her leadership has led to more than $4 billion in debt relief in June 2010 and to the lifting of UN trade sanctions to allow Liberia access international markets. She has increased the national budget from $80 million in 2006 to more than half a billion in 2011 and has driven annual GDP growth to at least 7 percent in the same period. President Johnson Sirleaf is Chairperson of the African Leaders Malaria Alliance; having succeeded the founding Chair, Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete in January 2012. ALMA is an alliance of African Heads of State and Government working to end malaria-related deaths.

She served as Chairperson of the Mano River Union where she leads the effort for political stability and economic cooperation among Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire. The Liberian leader is also Goodwill Ambassador for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in Africa. She was a founding member of the International Institute for Women in Political Leadership; was designated in 1999 by the Organization of African Unity (OAU) (now African Union) to serve on the committee to investigate the Rwanda genocide; was a Commission Chair for the Inter-Congolese Dialogue; and was selected by UNIFEM as one of two persons to investigate and report on the effect of conflict on women and women’s roles in peace-building. Prior to her ascendancy to the Presidency, Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf served on many advisory boards, including the International Crisis Group (USA) and Women Waging Peace (USA).

She is also a proud recipient of numerous prestigious awards including: the FAO CERES Medal (2008); the Crisis Group Fred Cuny Award for the Prevention of Deadly Crisis (2008) for outstanding leadership in democracy, development and peace-building in Africa; and the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2007), the highest civilian honor bestowed by an American President. President Sirleaf has been recognized amid numerous honors such as 14 honorary degrees from American colleges and universities. In 2010, Newsweek magazine listed Johnson Sirleaf as one of the ten best leaders in the world; Time placed her among the top ten female leaders; and the Economist called her “the best President the country has ever had.” The President Wisconsin Women Making History Ellen Johnson Sirleaf - Wisconsin Women Making History Sirleaf, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was born in Monrovia, capital of the West African country of Liberia. She came to Wisconsin in 1961 with her husband, who studied at UW-Madison, and earned a degree in accounting at Madison Business College. Upon returning to Liberia, she worked in the Ministry of Finance.

Later, after she and her husband divorced, she continued her studies in the U.S., first in economics at the University of Colorado and then a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University. Sirleaf returned to Liberia, where she became assistant finance minister and then deputy finance minister. Finally appointed finance minister in 1979, Sirleaf was the first woman in Liberia ever to hold the position. But when a coup d’etat killed many of the leaders of the administration in 1980, she fled the country. She returned to Liberia briefly in 1985 to attempt a run for vice president, but was arrested and forced to flee again. After a nonviolent women’s movement forced Liberia’s corrupt leaders out of the country, Sirleaf returned to help restore the government. In 2006, she became the 24th president of Liberia and the first elected female head of state in Africa. Throughout her career, Sirleaf has demonstrated her compassion and commitment, fighting for the rights of women and advocating for education, justice, and equality to provide a successful future for her country.

In 2011, Sirleaf and two other women were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of their non-violent struggles for women’s rights. .:: Women Leaders In Africa : Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf ::. Source: Afrol News Humble Beginnings: Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is the current President of Liberia and the first elected female Head of State in Africa. She was born on October 29, 1938 in Monrovia, the capital city of Liberia. Johnson-Sirleaf graduated from the College of West Africa in Monrovia after completing a study of Accounting and Economics. At the age of seventeen (17) she got married to James Sirleaf and proceeded to the United States in the year 1961 to further her education. She received a B.B.A. in Accounting from the Madison Business College in Wisconsin, USA in 1964, as well as an Economics diploma from the University of Colorado in 1970. Thereafter, she went on to secure a Master's degree in Public Administration from Harvard University in 1971. With these laurels in hand, Johnson-Sirleaf returned to Liberia and consequently got involved with government and politics.

Politically Inclined: Johnson-Sirleaf began working in William Tolbert's Government and served as the Minister of Finance from 1972 to 1973. On 12 April 1980, Tolbert was overthrown and killed by Army Sergeant Samuel Kayon Doe, who undertook a purge of his government. In a narrow escape, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf went into exile in Nairobi, Kenya and served as Director of Citibank in Nairobi from 1983 to 1985. She returned to Liberia to run for Senate in 1985 but was sentenced to ten (10) years in prison for speaking out against Samuel Doe's military regime. After a short period in prison, she was released and she headed to Washington DC where she worked in the (HSCB) Equator Bank. From 1992 to 1997 Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf worked as the Assistant Administrator, and then the Director, of the United Nations Development Program Regional Bureau for Africa. In 1997, Johnson-Sirleaf returned to Liberia in the capacity of an economist working for the World Bank and Citibank in Africa.

Source: The Perspective Source: The World Bank Presidential Aspirant: As a concerned and patriotic Liberian citizen, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf ran against Charles Taylor in the 1997 Presidential Election. Although Charles Taylor won the election with seventy-five percent (75%) of the votes, Johnson-Sirleaf was able to garner ten percent (10%) of the total votes and emerged the candidate with the second highest number of votes. In all, fourteen (14) candidates participated in the 1997 Presidential Election. Despite her initial success in the 1997 Presidential Election, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was not to be thwarted.She began campaigning for the removal of Charles Taylor from office and was in effect charged with treason. After Charles Taylor's exile in 2003, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf took over the leadership of the Unity Party. Over the period of civil unrest in Liberia, Johnson-Sirleaf played an active and supportive role in the transitional government, as the country prepared itself for the 2005 elections. Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf: The 2005 Liberian Presidential Election took place on October 11th, 2005.

At the end of the first round of voting, Johnson-Sirleaf placed second with 175,520 votes and qualified to partake in the runoff vote against former international footballer George Menneh Weah on November 8, 2005. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was declared the President-elect of Liberia on November 11, 2005 by the National Elections Commission. The Commission's decision was confirmed on November 23, 2005. She won the election with a margin of almost twenty percent (20%) of the total vote. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was inaugurated as the 24th President of the Republic of Liberia, and the first female elected President in Africa. Lessons In Courage From Africa's First Female President Lessons In Courage From Africa's First Female President {{article.article.images.featured.caption}} Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Full Bio The author is a Forbes contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer. Loading ... Loading ... This story appears in the {{article.article.magazine.pretty_date}} issue of {{article.article.magazine.pubName}}. Subscribe Ma Ellen. The Iron Lady. Africa's Queen.

People across the world regularly use these names to describe Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf , the first female President of Liberia and the continent’s first female head of state. They hint at the immeasurable amount of strength, charisma, and conviction it required for her to win the 2005 election (and re-election in 2011), where she not only beat despotic leaders who used violence against her and the voters, but also convinced a nation that a woman could serve in the role. When she took office, Johnson-Sirleaf became a figure of hope and inspiration for a broken country—and for the rest of the world. How did she do it? By drawing upon her extraordinary leadership skills, her cool and rationale thinking even in the most turbulent times, and with her unwavering message of hope that stirred a nation into action.

These are the same attributes that have changed Liberia so dramatically since she came into office: clawing it out of debt, making social initiatives a priority, and bringing it from "battered, broken, hopeless" to “nothing can stop us now.” Perhaps even more astounding than all of that is the optimism and level-headedness Johnson-Sirleaf has exhibited throughout the presidential elections and during her terms, given that she inherited a country in complete disarray: one fraught with civil war, coups, violence, crime, extreme poverty, and few educational opportunities for its citizens. While her initiatives are hugely wide-reaching and vary, she has never strayed from her goals of peace, social justice, and economic stability for Liberia. Johnson-Sirleaf, who was featured on the recent Forbes Philanthropy cover , is ranked #87 on Forbes’ list of the World’s 100 Most Powerful Women , has a lengthy list of accomplishments and accolades, including serving as an economist for the World Bank, winning the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, and winning re-election as President of the small country on the northwest coast of Africa.

But the list of challenges that she’s overcome along the way—navigating decades of violence and the horrors of war in Liberia, stints in jail where her life was in danger because of her beliefs, making education a priority in a country where 80 percent of the existing schools had been destroyed by war, and rebuilding a country with $4.9 billion in debt—is even longer. “It’s been a lifetime...of making sure that I keep struggling to not only to survive, but to succeed,” she says. At the Forbes 400 Summit On Philanthropy earlier this year , Johnson-Sirleaf graciously and candidly sat down with me to share some of the profound struggles of her life, and how she has managed to come out on top time and time again. The Simplest Step Can Be An Epic Catalyst “[As a teenager, my] life was sort of turned upside down,” she remembers. “I got married at 17 years old and had four children. I had just come out of high school. My classmates had all gone off to college in the U.S. or some other place.

And there I was taking care of four boys.” Going to college became a goal so that she could “equal those friends and classmates who'd gone ahead,” she says, one that ultimately ignited ambitions far greater than what Liberia’s president could have ever anticipated. “It was just a question of struggling to make it—making sure you don't get left behind.” In time, she achieved that goal and then some: Johnson-Sirleaf earned an accounting degree at the Madison College of Business, later studied economics at the University of Colorado in Boulder, and eventually received a master’s in public administration from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. Never Waver Like Margaret Thatcher, Johnson-Sirleaf is often referred to as the Iron Lady, a testament to her unwavering strength in situations that would make most people run in the opposite direction, or at least give up, such as a self-imposed exile during the presidency of Charles Taylor, escaping the murderous coup led by her 2005 former President Samuel Doe, and being jailed twice by Doe. “I think it started with being able to work in an environment that was largely male-dominated [in the financial realm]...[it] prepared me to have the courage of my conviction,” she says.

“And where I am today, I think, attests to what determination and preservation and commitment can do.” Johnson-Sirleaf draws from the experiences she had earlier in her career in the financial sector in her post-conflict country by promoting fiscal discipline. Different Is Not Just Okay, It’s A Strength Great leaders thrive, even in the most uncomfortable situations. Johnson-Sirleaf has done that since she was a young girl. “I played football when girls were not supposed to play football,” says Johnson-Sirleaf, recounting that the strength and determination she called on to run around with the boys are the same qualities she has harnessed innumerable times in career. “There are times when taking positions got me into trouble...I ended up in prison couple of times,” she says. “But that also propelled [me forward].” In addition to rebuilding Liberia’s economy, education has been a top priority for the President, who wants schooling to be a birthright for all children in her country.

Rise Above Fear “You’re picked up after a coup d’etat as a political leader, and get thrown into a prison in the midst of a bunch of soliders...I was told I was going to be driven to the beach and killed,” recalls Johnson-Sirleaf of her ordeal as a political prisoner under the murderous Samuel Doe. Despite the danger and violence surrounding her, she confesses in her autobiography that she was not afraid during this harrowing time. "I should've been afraid but I wasn't afraid,” she wrote. “The truth is that with all I went through, I should be dead." She credits convincing the soldiers in the prison that she was fearless for her survival. And she thinks her upbringing by her mother, who was a pastor, and her father, who was one of the first indigenous members of Liberia’s legislature, planted the seed of unwavering courage early on.

Embrace Optimism Despite Liberia’s history of warlords, civil war, poverty and a collapsed economy, Johnson-Sirleaf has never wavered in her hope for Liberia’s future: “I was always optimistic that it could change—and there were enough people committed to that change—and that if we all were able to show the courage to be a part of the processes of change, that it would happen. And it did.” She isn’t finished with her work; this is what Liberia’s future looks like to Johnson-Sirleaf: peace, financial stability, a higher standard of living for all [including electricity and running water for citizens], and education for everyone. Profile: Liberia's Ellen Johnson Sirleaf - BBC News BBC News Profile: Liberia's Ellen Johnson Sirleaf 7 October 2011 Close share panel Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Mrs Sirleaf hopes her 2005 poll victory encourages other women in Africa to go for high political office Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, 72, known as the "Iron Lady" by her supporters, has been named as one of three joint winners of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize.

The award comes six years after she became Africa's first elected female head of state following the end of Liberia's 14-year civil war. It also comes just days before she stands for re-election, despite initially promising she would only seek one term. While out campaigning, the diminutive grandmother figure is often dwarfed by her party officials and bodyguards but over a political career spanning almost 30 years she has earned her steely nickname. She was imprisoned in the 1980s for criticising the military regime of Samuel Doe and then backed Charles Taylor's rebellion before falling out with him. It would have been much easier for her to quit politics and sit at home like others have done but she has never given up Liberian analyst After beat her in the 1997 presidential election, she was charged with treason, prompting her to return to exile. In 2009, Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommended that she be barred from holding public office for 30 years for her role in backing Mr Taylor, who is currently on trial for war crimes in The Hague. She has ignored the ruling but has apologised for backing Mr Taylor.

One veteran of Liberia's political scene said Mrs Sirleaf's nickname comes from her iron will and determination. "It would have been much easier for her to quit politics and sit at home like others have done but she has never given up," he said. 'Don't change pilots' She won the 2005 election run-off even though she faced probably the best known Liberian - former football star George Weah. The story so far: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Born: 1938 1997: Lost elections to Charles Taylor, returned to exile 2005: Defeated former football star George Weah in election run-off 2011: Won Nobel Peace Prize, seeks re-election Despite the popular appeal of her opponent, analysts say she won because of background as a development economist. Mrs Sirleaf has held a string of international financial positions, from minister of finance in 1979 to Africa director at the United Nations Development Programme. So many people felt she was well placed to rebuild Liberia's shattered economy. Since becoming president, she has cancelled and renegotiated a $1bn contract with the world's largest steel company, Arcelor Mittal, which has since started iron ore production in the north east.

Another $2.6bn iron ore concession agreement was entered into between the government and China Union, a consortium of Chinese companies. But she says that her work has not finished, which is why she changed her mind and decided to seek re-election. "When the plane hasn't landed yet, don't change the pilots," her posters say. Some poor Liberians complain that their lives have not changed much since Mrs Sirleaf became president. Many educated Liberians - and members of the old elite descended from freed American slaves - gave Mrs Sirleaf their backing in 2005. 'Motherly sensitivity' While men continue to dominate life in rural areas of Liberia, in the cities, some women and some gender-sensitive men felt it was time the country had a female leader - after a succession of men had brought the country to ruins. Mrs Sirleaf said she wanted to become president in order "to bring motherly sensitivity and emotion to the presidency" as a way of healing the wounds of war. Throughout her campaign, she has said that if she won, it would encourage women across Africa to seek high political office.

She constantly stresses her commitment to the fight against corruption and after returning from exile, she served as head of the Governance Reform Commission set up as part of the deal to end Liberia's civil war in 2003. She resigned that post to contest the presidency, criticising the transitional government's inability to fight corruption. However, her opponents now make the same claims about her administration and even accused her allies of buying votes ahead of Tuesday's re-election - charges they strongly deny. On her father's side she is descended from a traditional chief, while her mother's father was a German trader. She was married aged 17 to James Sirleaf but they later divorced. She is the mother of four sons and has six grandchildren. Even with peace, Liberia’s women struggle | Africa Renewal Online Even with peace, Liberia’s women struggle Even with peace, Liberia’s women struggle A conversation with activist Leymah Gbowee By: Since she was inaugurated in 2006 as Africa’s first elected female president, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has been inspiring women across Liberia—and the continent. Photograph: Panos / Tim A.

Hetherington Four years after voters in Liberia, battered by decades of dictatorship, economic ruin and civil war, elected a no-nonsense former banker and UN official, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, as their president, the country is making slow progress towards recovery. But there is still a long way to go. Thousands of UN peacekeepers and police remain in the country to provide security and train a new army and police force. Poverty and unemployment are high among youth and the country’s 100,000 demobilized former fighters, fuelling concerns about stability. Government facilities and services, including health, education and administration, were largely destroyed in the fighting. Average income, while rising, is among the lowest in the world: In 2009 the typical Liberian struggled to live on the equivalent of just US$0.38 per day, according to International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates. It would be a daunting agenda for any president. But the stakes are particularly high for Ms. Johnson-Sirleaf, the first woman to be elected an African head of state — and for the millions of women across the continent who see her success or failure as their own.

Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee, who currently heads the West African regional Women Peace and Security Network–Africa, also sees President Johnson-Sirleaf as a trailblazer for African women more generally. Despite the many problems that faced Liberia on inauguration day in January 2006, Ms. Gbowee gives the president generally high marks for her leadership. The fragile peace that followed the 2003 removal of former President Charles Taylor has held. The country’s shattered economy is sputtering back to life as displaced people have returned to their farms and businesses and commerce has restarted. Schools, clinics and government offices have reopened, damaged infrastructure is under repair and the government is seeking to reform state institutions, speed economic recovery and promote national reconciliation with the help of the United Nations and Liberia’s development partners. Broadening horizons At first, Ms. Gbowee told Africa Renewal, Ms. Johnson-Sirleaf’s appeal was simply that she was not one of the men responsible for the war. “It was out of desperation. It is not that people had this belief in women. It was a feeling that ‘We’ve tried the men from top to bottom.

Now let’s try something else’.” But since then, explains Ms. Gbowee, the president has attracted support because of her conduct in office. “I have grown to respect her ability to stand up in the face of immense criticism and try to do right for her country.” That is high praise from a founder and organizer of the grassroots Liberian women’s peace movement. At the height of the fighting, Ms. Gbowee helped unite and mobilize thousands of Liberian women to protest the 14-year civil conflict and advocate for reconciliation. Excluded from internationally-sponsored peace negotiations, the women nevertheless found ways to pressure the leaders of the warring factions and are widely credited with keeping the talks from collapsing. Those efforts were later chronicled in the award-winning documentary film Pray the Devil Back to Hell * . Ms. Johnson-Sirleaf’s presidency has opened new possibilities for Liberian women and girls, Ms. Gbowee notes. “Take small-scale market women,” she says. “In the past they only aspired to maybe go to Ghana to do some cross-border trading.

Now they are taking loans from the bank and going to China and other places to buy their goods.” The fact that a woman could be president, she says, has broadened their horizons. Even her own nine-year-old daughter was inspired to challenge traditional gender roles, Ms. Gbowee says, smiling. “Six months after Ellen’s election, the elementary school where she went had an election [for class officers]. The children went out and did their campaigning and they got elected. They had 12 elementary classes and so you had 12 presidents — and 11 of them were girls! Since the end of the war and the election of a female president, many Liberian girls have been encouraged to enroll in school and to broaden their horizons. Photograph: UN / Christopher Herwig “This was the most amazing thing for me. When I was growing up girls aspired to be the chaplain or the treasurer of the class. You really didn’t see them stepping up to say, ‘I want to be president.’ But immediately after the election of this woman, you had all these little girls saying, ‘If Ellen can be president, I want to be another Ellen’.” School enrolment surging Since Ms.

Johnson-Sirleaf’s inauguration, Ms. Gbowee explains, “You have high enrolment rates of girls in school now.” It is a claim borne out by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Its most recent study of progress towards gender parity in education found that the ratio of girls to every 100 boys in Liberian primary schools rose from 74 in 1999 to 94 in 2007. “You also have high enrolment rates of women in adult literacy programmes,” Ms. Gbowee continues. “Most of them tell you, ‘By the end of this presidency in two or three years, I want to be able to write when I go to the bank and not use my thumbprint.’ So there is just this whole wave of things that women want to do. Some of these girls who never really thought about high school are now saying, ‘I want to go to college and be somebody’.” Even in the rural areas, where tradition and poverty often combine to keep girls from school, she explains, there is a new assertiveness and self-confidence. “We’ve done leadership projects with girls in three rural regions. In two of those regions the results were fantastic.

The girls who completed high school were looking for scholarships or going back to relatives and saying, ‘I have to go to university’.” Progress and problems Whether Liberia’s shattered education system will be able to accommodate the new aspirations, however, is an open question. There has been progress. School fees were abolished in 2006, spurring an 82 per cent increase in primary school enrolments in just two years. Spending on education reached 8.6 per cent of the budget in 2008, second only to health as the single largest budget line. But according to a recent report on progress towards the internationally accepted Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which include universal primary school enrolment by 2015, fewer than 40 per cent of Liberia’s children were enrolled at the level appropriate to their age in 2007 (if older students enrolled in lower levels are counted, the overall enrolment rate is about 86 per cent). It is unlikely that the country will reach full primary school enrolment by the 2015 target date. That is partly a legacy of the fighting.

The government reports that more than 70 per cent of the nation’s schools were damaged or destroyed during the conflict and that hundreds of thousands of students were displaced. The country’s dire financial circumstances are also slowing progress, as are the limits on government borrowing and spending that are part of an agreement with the IMF. As the economy improves, the government noted in its most recent MDG progress report, “the binding fiscal constraints that frame the [IMF] programme will need to be relaxed to facilitate increased production and access to basic socio-economic services.” Liberia does have a good chance of achieving equal primary school enrolment between boys and girls by 2015, another MDG goal, because of the increase in female attendance and the adoption of girls’ education as a national priority by the government in 2006. Violent backlash There are also signs of a violent backlash by some Liberian men, Ms. Gbowee asserts. “Initially there was a feeling among some of them that ‘The men have failed, lets give it to the women.’ But now you get ‘You people have had it for four years. OK”.’ The country’s continuing high rates of rape and sexual assault, she says, partly reflect that change in attitude.

“We believe strongly that these are some of the backlashes for women getting overly empowered and really stepping out to do things they never really ventured to do. So yes, we have women being empowered. But we have serious concerns about what women are going through in their home setting and in the community.” Ironically, she notes, some of the advances made by Liberian women have complicated their efforts to work together to achieve more. “One thing we’ve seen in post-war Liberia is serious competition amongst women. It is not helpful in terms of making more gains. They feel they no longer need to collaborate to get there. We have this huge surge of girls going to school and women are excelling, but the collective way we embraced peace building is disintegrating because everyone is seeing herself as the next big thing.” Breaking new ground Despite the difficulties, Ms. Gbowee says, Liberia’s first female president has broken new ground for African women and provided a springboard for further advances — and not only in Liberia. “When you talk to sisters across the continent, they say Ellen is the president for us all,” she says. “There is strong backing from women across all countries to see that she succeeds, because they believe that her success is critical for sending other women to the presidency.

“If she does good, everybody — women, men, youth, boys and girls — will see that as an example to follow in other areas. If she doesn’t, then the chances for other women are slim. We think people are really watching. And she has emboldened women in other countries to step out. What we as women need to do is take serious advantage of that. Let’s put them out there, turn it to our advantage and start making some serious gains.” * For more information about the documentary Pray the Devil Back to Hell visit the website . Also in this issue | Liberia " /> As the first elected female head of state to serve an African country, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia is a pioneer and role model worldwide. From her service as a Liberian cabinet minister in the 1970s, a senior United Nations administrator in the 1990s and president since 2006, Johnson-Sirleaf has always been committed to democracy in her country and even earned the nickname "Iron Lady" for her stern discipline and dedication to the cause.

Shortly after taking office, she initiated poverty reduction programmes and also established Liberia's first Truth and Reconciliation Commission to promote peace and unity after 20 years of civil war. Surprisingly, her long-standing political career came about unexpectedly after studying and working in accounting. As an infant, a community elder visited her family home and announced that "this child will be great"– a prophecy that would eventually reflect her life journey for years to come. This episode of One on One with Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf can be seen from Saturday, December 18, at the following times GMT: Saturday: 0730, 2330; Sunday: 0300; Monday: 0630; Tuesday: 1230; Wednesday: 1430; Friday: 0030. Source: Al Jazeera Content on this website is for general information purposes only. Your comments are provided by your own free will and you take sole responsibility for any direct or indirect liability. You hereby provide us with an irrevocable, unlimited, and global license for no consideration to use, reuse, delete or publish comments, in accordance with Community Rules & Guidelines and Terms and Conditions . MORE FROM AL JAZEERA

Question: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is the first female African head of state - in which country?
Answer: LIBERIA